quervsquererWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: quer is a conjunction, querer is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“quer” is a conjunction and “querer” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#129
“quer” frequency rank
#1,021
“querer” frequency rank
1150
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature quer querer
Definition ou sentir vontade de

Letter map: quer vs querer

Shared letters muted; letters that set quer and querer apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.

4 ch
quer
6 ch
querer

Grammar separator: quer vs querer

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: quer is aconjunction and quereraverb. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “quer” sits inside “querer”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1150, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

quer is recorded at frequency rank #129, classified as aconj. querer is at rank #1,021, tagged as averb, pronounced /kɨ.ˈɾeɾ/.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 1150, this pair ranks #74,461 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of quer vs querer

Shared letters: eqru. Private to "quer": -. Private to "querer": -.

"quer" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "querer" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • querqeur · qquer · querr · qure · uqer
  • quererqeurer · qquerer · queerr · quererr · querre · querrer · qureer · uqerer

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "quer" and "querer" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "quer" is a conjunction and "querer" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "quer" or "querer" show up more?
"quer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #129 in our Portuguese list, against #1,021 for "querer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "quer" and "querer". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "quer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "querer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #74,461 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "quer" and "querer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "quer vs quit". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #74,461 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list